With uncertainty in the economy, seniors are looking to non traditional sources of money for their retirement years. A growing number of seniors are turning to the novel life settlement market for cash. While many don’t know life settlements are available, they offer large and readily accessible sums of money from unwanted or unneeded life insurance policies.

Life insurance policies are usually purchased to provide much needed financial security in the event of someone’s death. When a life insurance policy is no longer needed many people mistakenly assume the policy has little or no value. In years past policy owners had two options for their unwanted life insurance. First, they could stop paying premiums, which then allowed the policy to lapse. In this scenario, the policy owner gets nothing. Secondly, some life insurance allows for the policy to be returned to the insurance carrier for the “cash surrender value”. Unfortunately, the cash surrender value is often only a nominal amount of the policy’s death benefit.

Life settlements offer a third and more attractive option. A life settlement occurs when someone sells their existing life insurance policy for an immediate lump sum payment. The seller benefits by getting instant money which is often 200%-500% more than the cash surrender value offered by the insurance carrier. While the buyer, often a financial institution such as a bank or investment fund, pays the ongoing premiums and receives the death benefit when the policy matures. Unfortunately, many seniors don’t realize that life insurance policies can be bought and sold by their owner, like any other asset.

The life insurance settlement process is relatively straightforward and easy. Contacting a life settlement broker for a free analysis and consultation is the first step. These licensed professionals can provide an estimated value for a life insurance policy on the secondary market. After completing an application and collecting some documentation, the policy will be offered to a number of prospective buyers for consideration. From there, the policy seller simply chooses the most attractive offer and collects the life settlement proceeds.

Seems that Americans have found that America has much to offer in the way of free recreation, that is our National Park system. I applaud the recent efforts of reducing or even having free day and multiple national parks this year. What a great way to spend time with our families! Dads have an opportunity to show their kids what being a man is all about and as a family unit how we can be good stewards of our land. If you can just convince your family that sleeping on the ground or even a wobbly air mattress. What I have found is yet a better appreciation for the land that we cherish and defend. Americans could use a little attention to land we have versus so many countries who can never match our natural resources. Perhaps we are all a little spoiled. Pick any national park, imprint in on your mind and think if it could ever be matched elsewhere. I challenge you to do so. Your tax dollar has hopefully been used well, to clear paths, make roads and hired outstanding rangers and guides. You should listen to the college degrees these guys have. You will be blown away. Take advantage of the free parks this year.

I thought it was just me but after reading the Newsweek article about our growing culture of young Narcissist behavior and I am now validated. I love me is the mantra. Hey, if I just show up for class I deserve a B. This is just the beginning. How did we get here. The parents of the new dashing 20 year olds are our favorite 70’s flower power folks who we all thought were anti establishment, took a huge 180 degree turn. These are the guys who buy the SUVs and own the companies that keep us running with our out of control spending habits. What happened? The article argues that these parents felt that that culture would keep these kids in check. The problem is that the love of self behavior is reinforced by everyone around them. The adults look the other way hoping and waiting for society to say enough is enough. Too late. I am not sure what to do with this. I know that if I were a hiring manager, I would tremble the thought of hiring someone who felt they deserved the job and not earning it. I wrote before about the Golden Child statue and article in the WSJ, how these new kids want to be a manager in 3 years and when they are bored they are gone! What to do???

Introducing the Grant family. I was very young, well a teenager, when I first came to learn of the Grants in the neighborhood. We never really knew them deeply, just that so many neighbors wanted to know them better and better. They were the talk of the town and so it seemed, the talk of the nightly news. “Tear down this wall Mr Gorbachev” was exclaimed on the television from our great leader President Reagan and next the finish of the stock market and finally, “that’s the way it is and good night.” The pressure cooker is heard simmering ready to give way at any time and the sound of ice hits the bottom of the glasses, now I know that dinner time has come and the news will be switched on and again three times each half hour for all we knew was network news and the Grant family.

The Grants never moved. The family was mentioned at the dinner table as ruining our lives yet we needed to know them better to survive. It seemed all so crazy. They said it was a decade of decadence and overabundance of the self. The Grants wanted to be a part of family and we were told they would come, but at a trickle.

I have been in sales now for over 8 years. The last opportunity I took mandated that I use my own car and gas within a very large territory. What I have found and that many large corporate operations are finding is that travel budgets have to be cut. We all waste a lot of time when other methods could be used to maximize travel and business. That is when I found One Source Insight’s Find Prospects by Geography. They have a better approach optimize your face to fact contacts in three ways: First they will help target lists by using radius searches within the territory. Second, they will help create a travel window each metro area so then you can start planning early. Third, You call the prospects by geography and make that planned trip a reason to meet. Obviously, we all need to cut back on a travel expenses, food, gas etc but we all know that there is nothing better than a face to face contact to drive the sale. Video conferencing is a nice way to build interest before the meeting and create time tables around them. It is a little more work, but that is why you would hire One Source to help you. Plus, they have a great, clean web site that is very easy to use. They have links to research, client development, sales and marketing. I will be using these guys this year to drive sales!

One of the new struggles my family is facing is the fact that our grandparents are using a wheelchair full time and are in need of dependable transportation to get to and from doctor visits etc. You just cannot go out and find any type of van, it has to have special equipment. That is when I found mobilityworks.com who sells vans that have an electric wheelchair lift among other items to suit your access needs. They have 12 dealerships around the country that look and work like any other auto dealership. They have hundreds of new and used vans from all the major van manufacturers. You may want the typical minivan or a full size Econoline van. Perhaps you just need a lift to attach your scooter, they have those too. Their website is great! They have a very cool link to YouTube to watch videos to demonstrate their product. They have a link to their conversion van inventory. I looked into their current specials and found everything from $9,000 to $30,000 vans with all different kinds of ramps for wheelchair access. Make sure you read on their EZ lock docking system to find out just how your loved one will be secure once the van is on the road! Finally, what will be great for my family is that my grandfather is a veteran and they can help you through the process of getting the VA to help pay for the system as well as for Medicare and Workers Compensation programs. So its not just a nice site with an inventory list. Its much more with customer service, financing, great videos on YouTube and rental information. It is truly a one stop shop for wheelchair access vans!

I just mentioned that you need a solid career to ride the wave any recession, especially now and in the future. There is one job that is simply going no where and that is pharmacy jobs. Think about it, the baby boomers are beginning to retire and use many prescriptions and will for some time to come. You can work at a large retail chain like CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens or you can find a locally owned and operated store. There are jobs all around the US for these places and you can find the jobs on the web, such as the link above. You can work as a Pharmacist that requires a PharmD or be a Pharmacy Tech or work the register. What a great rewarding job that survive the economic downturn.

I have been reading about the amount of security it will take to guard the inauguration. It will take about 46,000 officers to do so. That is staggering. Have you taken the time to understand a much more realistic threat in 2009? How about the very device you are using to read this, that is your home or office computer system. I did some research and found that Sandisk is on top of this. They saw that Forbes magazine did some research and found 2008 to be the worst year in in data losses and breaches. This is staggering. So who is the most at risk of Cyber Terrorism? Well, I believe that is now corporate America. I believe this because with the meltdown of the economy, there are competitor companies looking to gobble up market share and breach of security of corporate operations is too tempting to steal. What kind of Cyber Terrorism will we see? Database exposure is the greatest asset to protect today and without encrypted data with strong password protocols, companies have so much to lose. I could see internal personnel as the great threat with so many losing their jobs, it could be tempting to steal data and take to another company. So how can a company keep its data safe? I believe you go to best in usb encryption and that is SanDisk. They have the brand, the experience, the patents and customer service to protect all of us from theft or loss due to malicious cyber attack. Portable encrypted data is one way along with central management and access provisioning that will save companies critical data. Its time for all businesses in America to take action to secure their USB drives and gain control over their database management of sensitive information. With this economy, you cannot afford not to.

One of the great subjects that we teach our youth today is the perinial topic of literature. From the Illyad to Dickens to Psalms to Tolstoy, human kind has endeavored to put to paper, stone or papyrus, their story into the written word. What is it over time that we still do this? What is the lure? Could it be that the authors understand that what they write could be passed down for generations to come? I like to think they wanted us to know our part of their culture, what was important to them and the issues of life they faced. We see the searching of the soul it seems in every story, with heroes and villains, rich and poor etc. It just seems amazing to me that stories written 500 or even 2000 years ago still strike a chord with us. I wonder if these authors struggled with youth who found the classics boring and a waste of time. Why is it that the youth find this a waste. I think they have not seen the world yet and all the troubles that adults have seen and lived. The youth have not tasted adversity yet or daily struggles of life because they are still under our wing. They need real life to compare it to, they need to experience love and marriage, politics, war etc. I have been hard on the young for not taking literature seriously. Perhaps they just cannot do so until their soul has tasted the struggle of life.

It has been reported today that now Circuit City is ready to liquidate and release over 30,000 employees. Pfizer will lay over 2,000 and the list goes on and on. What an amazing opportunity for the right entrepreneur to scoop us such a Talent pool and now. If only I could think of the right company for this is the right time and place. Power that be, ever present and oh so more intelligent than I are out there now but I just cannot think of what we should be launching. Whats more, this talent pool will be less expensive than in previous years. My question is to you my loyal readers? If you could own any business and had access to this talent pool, what you do. Where is the next opportunity?